This is perhaps on of my most painful memories of a piercing I'll probably ever have.
At A Glance Author Draven Contact sarahluvsceleste@yahoo.com When Six months ago Artist Kathy W. Studio Studio 24 (Formerly KGee's) Location Delaware, Ohio Anyway, I was in the mood for a new piercing. It was the day before Thanksgiving and I had shit else to do besides help my mom cook and sit around the house as snow fell outside.
I conned my dad into taking me down to Studio 24, which used to be KGee's. Kathy had just moved around the corner and into a bigger studio, hence the studio name change, so she was busy hanging her commendations in the piercing room.
I walked right in and found her, as most return customers are accustomed to doing. I told her that I'd been thinking about getting an industrial of sorts, but not the one that everyone else has... you know what one I'm talking about.
She said ok and as she was pounding nails in her new walls she asked me if I had any idea how it should go. Now, if you don't know Kathy, she's a very visual person, and she HAS to look at something to even get an idea of what's possible in her head.
I said the word "vertical" and I could see the wheels turning in her head as she examined my right ear as closely as possible, thinking about options.
I'm pretty open to her suggestions, and in fact, about 5 of my piercings have actually been suggestions based on what I wanted done. She said she could take a barbell up through the very bottom of my conch, up through my rook, and come out on the uppermost helix of my ear. She made sure she had the barbell to do it while I thought it over. I'm always one to try new things and I figured nobody else had a piercing too much like this, at least not around here. Of course I accepted.
After she washed up she prepared her little tray and told me to lay down. After a few marks were made, she was happy with the placement, and she never has to ask me twice... she won't ask if it's right until she thinks it's perfect anyways. She's always right on.
Now, I've had both of my conches pierced, one at 14g and the other at 8g. I'm no stranger to that pain. However, going straight up through the bottom was a whole nother story. I still felt that familiar push and it hurt about as bad as my 8g but I was ok after a minute.
Then came the rook. I'm sure this isn't a bad piercing, especially since it barely hurt to get my tragus done before, but oh, it's so much different after one hole has already been created on the same ear.
This probably hurt twice as much as any regular rook piercing, as my ear was getting tender by this point. We took 30 more seconds while she screwed my barbell into the bottom of the needle, then she went through the helix and all in one swoop it was done.
The needle fell onto the "operating" >=) bed and she quickly grabbed it and set it on her tray for later disposal. After screwing the bead on and cleaning me up a bit, (my conch was bleeding slightly on the back), I sat up and admired my new metal.
Though my ear was red and starting to swell, I could tell that it was definately discernable from other industrials. Kathy, the kind heart she is, decided that OH! let's push it down a bit and you can see the bottom bead through my tunnels! Yipee! That hurt a tad, but I lived through it.
Kathy is really one of those people who honestly takes pride in their ability to help create and do something someone hasn't thought of before... trust me, I've come to her with tons of ideas. She tugged on her earlobes in her mirror and said something to the effect of wanting neat ear piercings.
I sat for a bit longer and she gave me a sucker. I paid her, an amount which I won't disclose, for she gives frequent customers a discount and I don't want people running in to her and wanting the same prices I'm given. I'm certainly not the only return customer, either.
After we left and went home my mom kinda freaked and then gave up on being pissed. Really, what's the use? The next day nobody really said anything or seemed to care, and it doesn't matter to me either way, as I don't like my relatives and they don't like me.
5 months later... my rook is STILL a little irritated. I tried not to sleep on it for the first 3 months or so, and it seemed to be doing fine. Last week it did the little bump thing on the back of my conch and that healed up this week, leaving me about 4mm of play in the barbell again, which I like. Kathy says we need to take it out for a day and replace it the next. It can relieve a lot of stress on the skin. I know this works... especially in surface piercings.
So... this weekend we'll do that... as well as pierce my vertical labret.
If anyone is thinking about a new industrial: I challenge you: Think about it and create your own. Don't go mainstream and get the one thousands of people get every day. Put a little of your personality into everything you do... or get pierced. It's really a good way to express how abstract your mind can be sometimes. If your piercer doesn't have the jewelry you need, make them order it. In the long run, it's definately worth it.